From Ninemsn.com.au: Contract prices for iron ore, thermal coal and coking coal, the three commodities crucial for fuelling Asia’s power stations and steel mills, are likely to rise to record or near-record levels this year, according to Australia’s respected national resources forecaster.
The price rises for the bulk commodities, Australia’s three most important export commodities, will help deliver a 24 per cent rise in the country’s export income in the 12 months to June 2010, followed by a 14 per cent increase the next year, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said in its quarterly report…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business-standard.com: Commodities are fast catching up with other asset-/investment-class products like shares, debt, real estate and bullion. With the emergence of organised and sophisticated ways of investment in commodities, traders have now started exploring the commodities they earlier kept away from.

Among agriculture commodities, cash crops like cotton and castor are now emerging as asset classes. With online mandis or spot exchanges gaining ground on volumes, organised investment tools are coming in handy for commodities, too…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Privately held Glencore, the world’s largest commodity trader, is expected to post a big rise in annual profit on Thursday as it prepares for a possible giant stockmarket listing.
The Swiss trader posted first-half net income of $1.56 billion, up 42 percent on a year earlier, as significantly higher metal prices boosted profit from its own mines and other assets…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Independent: Growing fears of an enduring oil crisis prompted huge volatility on investment markets yesterday – with shares in the world’s biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, slumping to a 22-month low – as a top energy official warned that the “age of cheap oil is over”.
Concerns about the turmoil in Libya triggered sharp sell-offs in stock markets across the Gulf, with shares in Kuwait and Dubai sliding to six-year lows. Oil prices also remained volatile throughout yesterday, with Brent crude futures for April delivery breaching the $117 (£72) per barrel mark in late afternoon trading…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Brent and U.S. crude oil settled Wednesday at highs unseen since 2008, when an airstrike near Libya’s oil terminal stoked fears of prolonged threats to oil supplies and pushed gold to record levels for a second day.
Brent oil settled at its highest level since August 2008 after fresh airstrikes hit Brega, about 2 km (1.2 miles) from a Libyan oil terminal. Embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi launched a land and air offensive to retake territory in Libya’s oil rich east…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Dow Jones: Crude oil production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in February was little changed from the previous month, as production increases in the Gulf countries were largely offset by the loss of output from Libya, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
A big increase in Saudi Arabian oil production to 9 million barrels a day in the last few days of the month, coupled with smaller increases from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, offset the loss of at least half of Libya’s crude production by month’s end due to the growing civil conflict in the country…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Unrest sweeping the Middle East could squeeze OPEC’s precious spare oil capacity for the long term as well as the near term as fearful governments delay reforms needed to tame galloping domestic fuel use.
The disruption of much of Libya’s 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of production already threatens to make a serious dent in the less than 5 million bpd of OPEC oil that can be swiftly added to markets in times of shortage…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Seekingalpha.com: Considering the turmoil in the Middle East and the spike in oil prices after Libya’s uprising, I am extremely surprised that the price of gold didn’t break $1,420 earlier; it took until yesterday, March 1, to move beyond that barrier, propelling the metal into short-term overbought territory as of today.
I cannot complain about the event from a trade perspective, and have held the famous SPRD Gold Trust (GLD) since February 17, with futures having conquered the 1,367 level that I mentioned in my post “What Do Global Events Mean for Gold?” and triggering the reverse play…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Marketoracle.co.uk: Canada based Stans Energy Corporation is currently focused on developing mining properties in Kyrgyzstan. The company acquired the mining license for the past-producing Kutessay II rare earth mine in October 2009 and is now gathering and analyzing its historical data.
Kutessay II along with the Kyrgyz Chemical Metallurgical Plant (KCMP) was the Soviet Union’s most advanced mining properties at one time. It supplied 80% of the nation’s rare earth metals for 30 years from 1960 to 1991. The mine was shut down in 1991 because of a fall in rare earth prices…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Mineweb.co.za: After a month or so in the doldrums after hitting a record high in December, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) unrest has launched the gold price towards yet new highs, and at the time of writing the yellow metal was trading just above $1,430 an ounce in Europe.
In OTC trading in the U.S. yesterday a new all-time high had been breached temporarily…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Yahoo! Finance: With the U.S. facing large, structural deficits, analysts of all stripes are taking an inventory of the nation’s assets and liabilities. Mary Meeker, famed for her coverage of Internet stocks, has produced a long presentation on the nation’s balance sheet, as if it were a private-sector company.
Historian Niall Ferguson suggests in Newsweek that the U.S. start selling off some of its assets. “The U.S. government currently has $233 billion worth of non-defense ‘property, plant and equipment’,” he noted. Plus there’s land, power-generating assets and roads. (As if somebody would buy I-95)…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Commodity Online: Global investment analyst Marc Faber says the best and true currencies available in the world today are not US dollar or Pound, but precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Faber, who is famous for his prediction of the US stock market crash in 1987, said that commodities, especially gold and silver will be the wise investment options for people in the wake of rising inflation and troubled economies around the world…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Csmonitor.com: States aren’t allowed to coin money. They can issue gold and silver, though, and some are talking about actually doing it. Why are so many state legislators beginning to call for issuance of a form of gold money?
The Constitution prohibits states from coining money but allows them to make “gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” By prohibiting everything except “gold and silver Coin” the Constitution clearly considers gold and silver coinage to be legitimate, no matter who issues it…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Marketwatch.com: Bridgewater Associates, which solidified its position as the largest U.S. hedge fund firm with big returns last year, expects a major currency breakup as tensions build between the U.S. and China, according to a media report Wednesday.

Bridgewater, run by Ray Dalio, saw assets under management jump by more than $15 billion in 2010 to $58.9 billion. That was mostly driven by the firm’s main hedge fund, Pure Alpha Fund II, which gained 44.8% last year…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Dow Jones: China’s market for currency swaps involving yuan will likely grow 50%-100% this year following the foreign exchange regulator’s decision to allow banks to arrange such deals with corporate clients from Tuesday, though the country’s capital account controls will still act as a constraint, said a senior trader at Bank of America N.A.

Banks in China have been trading currency swaps among themselves since August 2007, but the country’s restrictions on the yuan and the prohibition on corporate participation in the market meant there was little demand for currency swaps. A total of US$160 million worth of currency swaps were traded in 2010…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: CME Group Inc, parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world’s largest oil trading bourse, is looking at launching a futures exchange in London in a bid to capture more emerging market business, the company’s CEO said on Wednesday.
Chief Executive Craig Donohue told the Reuters Future Face of Finance Summit on Wednesday that London featured in his company’s plans for futures as well as over-the-counter trade, as CME looks at a market that has benefited from its relative proximity to Asia…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Straitstimes.com: Singapore Exchange seeks to list rubber futures on its derivatives platform, which is part of a plan to bring all commodities contracts into one single trading platform.
Currently, two rubber futures contracts, TSR20 and RSS3, are traded on the Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM), a subsidiary of SGX, the exchange said on Wednesday…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From WSJ: Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. said net profit rose 7% in 2010, boosted by an increase in average daily turnover value on the stock exchange and a record year for initial public offerings.

The company also said it isn’t in talks with other exchange operators, following a flurry of merger announcements around the world…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Commodity Online: It looks 2011 is going to be a bright year for commodity futures trading in China. Trading in the four commodity futures exchanges in China has shot up a record 38.44% in January and February, according to the China Futures Association.

According to a report in People’s Daily Online, the value of China’s futures transactions in the first two months of this year rose 38.44 percent year on year to 19.16 trillion yuan (about 2.92 trillion U.S. dollars)…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business-standard.com: A working group on consumer affairs, led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has recommended a ban on futures trading of essential commodities to combat rising food prices. This, along with 19 other recommendations, is part of a report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.
The Modi Committee Report laid out 20 recommendations with 64 detailed actionable points for the government to combat inflation. The report has suggested setting up of a Price Stabilisation Fund by the central government to help the state government for procurement and distribution of essential commodities in short supply…………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Indiatimes.com: The spice exports from the country during the April-January period of the current fiscal year have exceeded the targets, in rupee and dollar value, set for the full fiscal year. Compared to the targets, the achievement during the period is 108% in rupee terms and 107% in dollar terms. Export of spices has registered a 23% rise to touch $1,203.30 million in the period.
In rupee terms, the exports saw an 18% increase to reach a level of Rs 5,485.40 crore during the period under review. The exports in quantity terms stood at 433, 455 tonne during the period, which represents a 5% increase over the same period previous year. In quantity terms, the achievement so far in the year represents 93% of the target…………………………………….Full Article: Source